Abstract
The Greer–Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith and Culture at New Orleans Baptist Seminary was founded, Stewart explains, to “have a respected Evangelical scholar dialogue with a respected non-Evangelical or non-Christian scholar” (xv). In the lead essays, Harold Netland and Paul Knitter perform well in these respective roles, engaging in a concise, mutually respectful conversation on issues of pluralism, religious epistemology, and the normativity of Scripture. To this has been appended several papers presented at the Forum and at a concurrent event hosted by the Evangelical Philosophical Society, as well as essays solicited from the quintessential pluralist John Hick and the Reconstructionist Jewish theologian Nancy Fuchs Kreimer. Of these, only one—by Terrence W. Tilley—directly addresses the exchange between Netland and Knitter (he finds both of them wanting). Others offer critiques of and alternatives to the pluralist hypothesis in general, particularly as articulated by Hick.
For those acquainted with recent scholarship in the theology of religions, the volume treads familiar ground, in most cases rehearsing arguments that have been in the air for the better part of 30 years. There are, however, gems. In addition to Netland and Knitter’s fine introductory statements (chap. 1), Stewart’s general introduction helpfully explores a wider range of options than is generally acknowledged in the theology of religions project; Paul Rhodes Eddy executes an insightful diachronic analysis of Hick’s intellectual development; and essays by Hick, Tilley, S. Mark Heim, Keith E. Yandell, and R. Douglas Geivett offer useful, concise summaries of distinctive proposals developed at greater length elsewhere. Like the religious plurality that is the subject of discussion, the essays in this volume fit together only awkwardly, but that does not render them unworthy of serious regard. One special virtue: most essays offer complex arguments in an accessible style, suitable for undergraduate students.